An unscheduled chunk of time in the public comments portion of a council meeting just won’t do, says Tom Matzen, to ask for council’s blessing to try for a housing solution he considers perfect for Bowen Island.
Matzen says that in the summer, he got on the council schedule to present as a delegation but last week he was informed that his delegation had been pulled, as there were too many other items on the agenda.
“What I want to ask from council is for permission to try, even if that means we will try and fail,” says Matzen. “And I’ve been through enough presentations to know that if you give someone partial information they will say no for sure. I’ve been preparing to speak as a delegation for months, this is a complex idea that needs to be heard in full.”
Matzen’s proposal, “the self-funded community centre,” is an idea researched and formulated by Tim Wake, founder of Foxglove Housing.
It is based on a roughly 11-acre land-swap with Metro Vancouver Parks. Metro Parks would get back some of the park land it sold to Bowen, and provide Bowen with land that would be perfect for development within the Cove.
According to Matzen and Wake, the useable land in the Cove area could be developed to meet community housing needs, and also to fund a community amenities — possibly a community centre, seniors’ housing and/or a firehall.
“Everyone we’ve explained this idea to has said they love it — but you’ll never pull it off,” says Matzen. “They agree that if we could pull it off, it would be perfect. It may be true that we could never get through the bureaucracy of Metro Parks, but we still want to try.”
Matzen adds that he has not been given the option of another date to present as a delegation at council, but is hoping that with enough community support that may change.
